Theo Todman's Family Page

(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)

This page has a tendency to get out of date, so any ages and information herein have to be co-ordinated with the latest-change date, which (whatever might be said above) is end June 2023.

1. Human Family:
   • I've been happily married to Julie since October 1979. Julie retired at the end of 2017 from her role as an Occupational Therapist at Southend University Hospital helping to rehabilitate amputees but remains a mainstay and former Church Warden of St. John the Divine, Outwood Common, Billericay.
   • We have three children. They are all grown up now, and are no longer keen on me advertising their activities, so I’ve been sparing on the details below₁. However, they are:-
     1. Becky: has been married to Tim since July 2016. They live in Coggeshall, Essex₂, and their first child – Tommy – was born in February 2018, their second – Lili – in June 2020 – and their second daughter – Nia – in March 2022. All are healthy and doing what you’d expect of children their age. Becky works four days a week for Samaritan’s Purse ostensibly in Buckhurst Hill₃, and Tim works for the Environment Agency.
     2. Naomi: is married to Leandro and lives in Greenwich, London, and works for the Central YMCA. She’s recently qualified as a Company Secretary.
     3. Nathaniel: Works as a software developer for a small private company based in Good Easter, near Chelmsford. He has achieved his dream of being allowed to work remotely from the Far East, living in Bangkok, Thailand with his wife, Fon.
   • This could go on and on, but …
     1. I have a slightly-younger brother – Julian – who lives in Gloucester, and a much younger sister – Victoria – who lives in Weston-Super-Mare.
     2. Julie had two older brothers: Chris, who lives in London, and Stephen who lived in Ipswich, but who sadly died at the start of the pandemic from a Covid-like illness (though he tested negative).
     3. All our parents and aunts and uncles are now deceased₄.
     4. Julie has a cousin, Linda, who lives in the West Country and I have one surviving cousin, Rachel, who lives in Perth, Australia.
        
2. Non-Human Family:
   • This section rivals the above in length, but not in importance. My excuse is that the pets have no say in what is said about them.
   • We have a dog – Bertie - a Tibetan Terrier₅. Born in March 2022, so still a puppy. Very affectionate and boisterous. Loves to play with anyone on two legs or four.
   • Our previous dog – Henry – also a Tibetan Terrier – sadly had to be put down aged 10.5 after he contracted liver cancer. He didn’t perform any tricks, but looked very wise, though Naomi thought he was only thinking about sausages. I’m in the process of writing his Biography⁶. He looked very similar to Bertie, though not as robust.
   • We had a cat named Mouse but he had to be put down aged around 13 at the end of January 2020.
   • We’ve has a sequence of chickens housed in their Eglu Classic Chicken Coop. Unfortunately, they had a habit of not returning to roost, and fell victim to the local fox. The hen-house is currently occupied by Sally – acquired in October 2021 – who seems happy enough despite losing her companion to some unspecified disease after a few weeks.
   • We once had a small flock of flightless ducks on our pond, but sadly they are no more₇.
   • The old floating duck-house is periodically occupied by moorhens – we’ve had up to 8 of them at any one time – but they are wild birds and they come and go. The chicks are very sweet, and there are usually two batches of half-a-dozen or so each year. Given that the world isn’t over-run by moorhens, necessarily few of the chicks survive. My suspicion is that the local corvids – crows and magpies – find them to be a tasty snack, though last summer’s crop all seemed to have survived.
   • We’ve a much larger and newer floating duck-house which the moorhens despise, but which we hope the migrant mallards might take up home in from time to time.
   • I've always been interested in our pets’ cognitive capacities, and enjoy taking Bertie for walkies, though he doesn’t get my full attention as I’m usually studying languages on my iPhone or reading bridge convention cards. He counts as a member of the family.